Dead Fader is terrifying, generating unrepentant apocalyptic sounds for the abyss. You know with his music we’re dealing with noise and aggression, yet to be fair we’re also dealing with fractured and somewhat noisy bits of musical extremity. It may ostensibly be pop, or electro yet there’ always a significant and slightly uncomfortable fuzz and noise aftertaste. On Blood Forest we’re dealing with a multitude of beats, and despite being headed in the doom direction they’re not as repulsive or alienating as you would expect. Perhaps this is a disappointment.
Bloody Forest begins sounding like a woozy distended Giallo, elongated, pitch interrupted, concerningly assaulted by stabs of doom yet fearlessly fighting on. It’s not horror per se, more dread. From there it moves into hard beat territory. Everything behind the beat is distended and dreamy, heavily reverbed, uncontrolled and slightly feverish. Later on Left Right it’s all about beats, and they’re relentless and uncompromising. Though to get there you have to pass through moments of muscular ambience on Drown, a kind of scattered, yet highly percussive beat that is vaguely reminiscent of DJ Shadow – if only he was a little messier. Then there’ the difficultly pitched drone epic If Ever, which uses extremity as a` shortcut for transcendence.
There are real links to the likes of Scorn or Techno Animal, both in terms of ferocity, but also in terms of a desire to infuse more acceptable structures with lashings of noise and sonic disdain to add an additional sonic burden to the project.
There’ a real evolution to many of the pieces, not just changing over time, but significantly altering, particularly towards the end, becoming cleaner and more beat orientated, like the ornamental noise had been stripped away and suddenly we’re dealing with the music’ more honest or true self.
It’s the music of one man, John Cohen, and whilst Blood Forest is a more melodic less ferocious incarnation of Dead Fader, he’ simultaneously released another album Scorched which delights in extremity. That’s not to say Blood Forest doesn’ have teeth, rather its focus is more on bleak emotions than visceral thrills.
